Second Norzic-Imperial War
The Second Norzic-Imperial War was a conflict that followed the First Norzic-Imperial War, and lasted from the 13th August to 11th November ERA 10-26. Taking place mostly in the Great Channel and North Zicia, the war began after North Zicia launched a series of surprise attacks on Imperial island bases with the aim of decimating of the Imperial fleet, opening the way for a seaborne invasion of South Zicia. While many of the attacks succeeded, the operational objectives were not met as the fleet escaped total destruction. From then on, the progression of the war saw the elimination of the North Zician navy, the invasion of the North Zician mainland by an Imperial-Souzic coalition army, and the destruction of the North Zician capital of Kanunghlekin by supernuclear bomb. Background The Imperials and North Zicians first faced off during the earlier First Norzic-Imperial War, when the Great Empire came to the aid of South Zicia after they were invaded by their northerly counterpart. The campaign lasted over a year, with the Imperials eventually driving the North Zicians out of the country through a combination of amphibious landings and encircling actions. In the year or so between the ending of that conflict and the starting of the next, relations between North and South Zicia reached an all time low; South Zicia despised the North for the destruction of its cities and humiliation of its military, while the North condemned the South for resisting reunification as a truly independant nation, and accused its counterpart of remaining "leashed by Imperial masters". The North Zician army, despite moderate casualties, had managed to retreat in order and escape South Zicia mostly intact. This was in stark comparison to the South Zicians, whose bloodied military were at that point forced to rely on outdated Imperial equipment after most the critical losses of men and materiel in their rout of ERA 10-23. In addition, the typically numerous and well equipped Imperial troops stationed in South Zicia were still marred by horrendous casualties and other detrimental effects of the campaign, even a year later. Hospitals remained full of soldiers suffering tropical diseases that their bodies were not accustomed to, in addition to widespread cases of malnutrition, infection and pneumonia; a result of the uncharacteristically early rainy season of ERA 10-24 that was one of the longest and heaviest in recorded history. In terms of equipment, manpower and morale, the theatre was noticibly weakened. However, the Imperials were still devoted to protecting the South Zicians, even if it was for their own interests, and the Souzics were indeed thankful for their support. With Imperial aid the country would, in time, be back to functioning as normal again, and their military restored to their original strength. Meanwhile, the North Zician leadership still longed to reunite their shattered nations, and this was thought to only be possible through armed confrontation. Throughout the interlude, border confrontations grew more frequent and violent each day. Warfare was once again on the horizon, as the Norzics planned their next campaign, seeking to exploit every weakness they had caused and learned of during the last war. North Zician Plans The North Zician high command were acutely aware of the problems facing the South Zician military at the time; poor morale, organization and a lack of personnel and advanced equipment. In this state, the security forces of the South would be even more of a pushover than they had been in the first conflict. However, as soon as the North Zicians crossed the border, the Imperials would begin bringing their military might to bear on the invasion force; its ground forces, although now fatigued, had fought with tenacity during the Norzic-Imperial war, and was supported by a mighty air arm and a navy that was the envy of the civilized world. Fighting both of these opposing forces at the same time would almost certainly bring about defeat. Instead, the Norzics sought to disrupt the alliance between the two nations and influence the Imperials to withdraw. The main strategy of this centred around the destruction of the Imperial Navy; this was to provide a decisive strategic and psychological blow to the Great Empire. By eliminating the pride of the nation, the Imperials would no longer be the dominating force in the Great Channel. Moreover, it would feed into the second stage of the plan - to cause unacceptable casualties to the Imperials to the point that they would abandon the war and leave the Souzics to face the North alone. Then, a quick campaign to eliminate the technologically destitute South Zician military would leave the North Zicians in control of the entire Zicia region, thus completing the reunification. The Attack On the evening of the 13th August, the bulk of the North Zician Navy prepared to sail into hostile waters. The fleet consisted of four aircraft carriers, eight amphibious warfare ships and twenty three destroyers, in addition to seven submarines and several dozen smaller ships. Thirty eight individual targets were selected for destruction, which would accommodate for about 90% of the Imperial's strength in the Zician sector of the Great Channel. These included island and shore bases where the fleet refueled and underwent maintenance, in addition to operational ships patrolling in the area. The Norzics would use fast strikes under the cover of darkness to eliminate the threats and escape before any reasonable resistance could be mustered in defence. The majority of the attacks took place on the night of the 13th and 14th of August. These came in the form of either aerial bombardment or amphibious landings, supported extensively by a continuous chain of supply. Across the Zician sector, the Imperial radio net gradually fell silent as communication centres were bombed, radar relays sabotaged, and regional command posts were assaulted and wiped out. Those aware of the situation attempted to warn adjacent formations within the sector, but due to the communications blackout, nobody knew quite what was going on, preventing the effective rallying of the naval forces. With high command paralysed, the tide of battle would therefore have to be turned by the individual actions of the isolated Imperial garrisons. Despite several swift and crushing victories by the North Zicians, not everything was going smoothly. The radio silence and darkness that allowed their fleet to achieve surprise had made coordination of their own forces tricky, and several targets had not been hit with sufficient force, or had escaped destruction entirely. Meanwhile, the logistical forces of North Zicia were stretched to their operational limits as they attempted to keep almost the entire North Zician Navy supplied simultaneously. At the end of the 15th August, the North had claimed over forty large Imperial ships and submarines - a significant portion of the Imperial threat. However, Imperial forces in various key areas, despite being cut off from command, managed to counter the Norzics and ensure an equally significant section of the fleet survived annihilation to continue opposing the much weaker Norzic fleet. Battle in the Great Channel After being attacked by North Zicia, the Imperial forces stationed in the region were placed on to high alert, and military supplies poured into the region for the predicted ground attack across the border. With each passing week, the might of the Imperial armed forces grew stronger, which placed a deadline on the North Zician invasion plan, which was set to go ahead in early September. The original plan called for the elimination of the Imperial Navy before a massive North Zician amphibious invasion would be launched against South Zicia's western coast. With the landing of troops around the heavily populated central region, the Imperials and Souzics, cut off from the sea, would be driven southwards and eventually crushed. Victory for the Norzics was still very much possible, but preparations for this next crucial phase had to be completed swiftly before the Imperials stabilized the situation. The strategy turned to the destruction of the remaining fleet, and rapidly driving up the Imperial casualty rate. This included the disruption of supply lines from the Imperial homeland, which would keep the Navy in a state of weakness. The Norzics set about laying costly ambushes around captured island bases in the Great Channel, which would cause as much damage as possible before withdrawing. This tactic proved to be very successful, and yet more Imperial shipping was lost to the northern power. Throughout the month of August, the Imperial fleet was slowly whittled down in chaotic engagements between the numerous archipelago of the Great Channel. However, the campaign was also extremely costly for the North Zician Navy, the planned withdrawals of which did not often go according to plan. The North Zician marines, charged with holding onto the island enclaves of the area, were taking horrendous casualties, with much of their equipment being lost along with them as the Imperials took back their island territories. The Imperial Navy, although projected to be barely functioning due to their losses, refused to collapse as a fighting force. These revelations were poised to throw the entire invasion plan into jeopardy; with only a few North Zician combat ships left to escort the landing forces against the serious threat of the surviving Imperial Navy, it seemed likely the plan would be called off. The War Turns The North Zician High command faced a crisis point. In early September, the South Zician and Imperial forces were the weakest they would ever be in that period, but despite the best efforts of the North Zician military, they were still a formidable fighting force. On the brink of the deadline of the Norzic invasion, there seemed only two choices; cancel the invasion and fight a prolonged defensive battle of attrition against the enemy alliance, or launch the amphibious gambit anyway. Despite going against everything that was originally planned, it was still possible that a quick, large scale strike against the enemy lines would provide the final decisive blow against the enemy. Seizing the South Zician capital would bring the worn-down Imperials into another protracted land war against the Norzics - faced with the same casualty rate as the last war, the Imperials would concede defeat and abandon the severely weakened Souzics. On the other hand, with the Imperial armada still operational, the vulnerable invasion fleet could be discovered and destroyed before it ever reached land, striking North Zicia with a momentous defeat. As it turned out, the invasion went ahead. On the 7th of September, an assault force of nearly a million combat personnel embarked in boats of all kinds in the ports of North Zicia, and sailed for hostile waters. The plan was to land as much men and material as quickly as possible before the Imperials could be bring their full strength to bear. This meant that much of the Norzic strength was committed in the first wave. Once again, disaster struck. The hurried nature of the operation coupled with the sheer numbers of troops and supplies needed made for severe logistical problems from the start. Some ships used to transport the troops were outdated and could not keep pace with other elements of the invasion group. Meanwhile, poor coordination between the forces meant that significant portions of the battlegroup failed to reach designated waypoints, or ended up in the wrong area. These factors made the already vulnerable invasion force increasingly slow and fragmented. Within hours of the invasion beginning, the Imperial Military was aware of the size, scope, and heading of the enemy flotilla. It was not long before the land forces were informed, and scrambled to the landing sites. This may have been avoided if the planned speed of the invasion was achieved, but as it stood, the entire coastline of South Zicia was reinforced well in advance of any of the landings. At the same time, the Imperial Navy began the air and sea bombardment of the Norzics. The few combat-capable aircraft and ships the North Zicians could muster to oppose them were promptly sent to the bottom, leaving the relatively defenseless troop carriers as easy pickings for the naval and aircraft ordnance. Most of the invasion party was wiped out before reaching land. Those that did manage to disembark were drawn into carefully prepared killing zones, and bodies piled up on the shoreline, in scenes reminiscent of the slaughter of the War of the Century over a hundred years prior. Any advances that managed to penetrate the line were carefully isolated and destroyed, with few Norzic elements causing any major damage. At sunset of the third day of the operation, resistance in the landing areas had been reduced to zero. All along the western coast of Zicia, debris from the skeletons of warships turned the shallows into a reef of twisted steel. For years after the ill-fated invasion, the corpses of North Zician soldiers, sailors and airmen washed up on beaches with grotesque regularity. Invasion of North Zicia With the North Zician army decimated, an opportunity arose for South Zicia to win a quick and ultimately decisive victory over their northern enemies with their own invasion of North Zicia. As battle damage assessments of the North's amphibious disaster were still under completion, plans were being formulated for a South Zician landing near the North's capital city of Kanunghlekin. Learning from the mistakes of their neighbors, it was determined that a timely and well coordinated attack was required, as well as significant air and naval cover. However, at the time the Souzic forces were still considerably under-strength, and this and the latter prerequisite also meant that the plan could not go ahead without the Great Empire pledging their own strength to the upcoming campaign. The Imperial military in Zicia, although managing to ward off the Norzics in two back-to-back campaigns, was itself, crippled. Many valuable assets had been lost, and high command was cautious to commit any precious remaining resources they had. Heated discussions began between the Imperials and the Souzics in regards to any future conflict. Eventually, the Imperials, like the North Zicians before them, were baited by the allure of a total victory over their enemies. A coalition invasion force of around 5 million troops (of which about 4 million were South Zicians) were assembled for a combined land and sea invasion of North Zicia, set for October ERA 10-26. The preparations required were enormous, and resulted in the commitment of all of the remaining naval assets of both coalition powers - the cost of any defeat would be catastrophic for the security of the alliance. Aware of the gathering threat of the destruction of their country, a power struggle within the North Zician government erupted, with several major factions vying for control of the country through several violent coup-de-etas. Although mostly hidden from the general public, by the end of the month-long ordeal around 2,000 people were dead. Finally, a new faction was installed that was almost ideologically identical to the last, who began to mobilize millions of civilians into a militia army to resist the campaign. Critically, however, the new party was covertly aligned with Heartland, who they began requesting support from in secret. The support they received, in the end, proved decisive. The invasion launched on the 1st October, with the simultaneous invasion of North Zicia from the south-east land border and the south-west coast of the country. On the land front, the North Zician army, which lacked significant numbers of trained personnel, used their large numbers to fight costly delaying actions as the mostly South Zician field army, which was only marginally better supplied and trained than the Norzics, pushed towards the capital. Meanwhile, the Imperial military began to fight for the many island strongholds and coastal defenses held by North Zicia. After a week's worth of heavy fighting, coalition troops could finally land at the fortified port town of Zubaslekin, which was only 20 miles away from the capital. Battle for Kanunghlekin At the beachhead at Zubaslekin, heavy fighting raged for nearly a fortnight as the well-reinforced Norzic defenders tried to prevent Imperial troops from gaining a foothold on North Zician soil by containing the invasion within the city. Large formations of Imperial and Souzic troops were concentrated on the landing zones of the city docks, unable to penetrate the enemy's defenses. At the end of the first day of the invasion, the Marines had only managed to advance as far as a market district less than a kilometer from the waterfront, and remained pinned in place by a large garrison of crack North Zician Army units, as well as large numbers of militia troops, for the best part of the following week. A battle of attrition ensued - sustained urban, close-quarters combat resulted in high casualties on both sides, significant civilian deaths, and widespread destruction of the city. While Norzic militia units razed city blocks to halt the coalition's advance, cruise missiles launched from the Imperial destroyers systematically leveled huge areas of the city. On the 16th of October, a contingent of Marines managed to breakout of the pocket into other areas of the city, allowing an encirclement of the Norzic army positions. This maneuver took several days due to fanatic Norzic resistance, but eventually resulted in the elimination of the garrison. With the major threat to the landings eliminated, and a pathway to the capital now open, coalition troops from the naval landings advanced and prepared to rendezvous with the land invasion army before assaulting Kanunghlekin. The plan of attack on the city was for Land Army Group to strike the city from the east and south and drive the Norzic defenders towards the city interior, while the Amphibious Army Group encircled the city from the north, thereby trapping the North Zicians in a pocket and allowing them to be slowly whittled down. When the assault was launched on the 29th of October, initial progress was good, with the poorly trained and armed militia units proving to be of little effectiveness in battle. However, as Imperial and Souzic units pushed past the outskirts, they ran into increasingly fierce resistance from the defenders, as well as the local populace. Many of the city streets were rendered impassible by roadblocks and collapsed buildings, which funneled advancing coalition troops into carefully prepared killzones. For the first stages of the battle, the Imperials could call upon their superior air power to reduce Norzic positions to rubble, but on the 1st of November, heavy snowfall moved into the region, grounding most aircraft for the remainder of the campaign. Thus, the final battle of the Second Norzic-Imperial War would take the form of brutal house-to-house fighting, with great cost to both sides. On the 4th of November, despite sustaining horrendous losses, the encirclement of the city was completed. Squeezed from all sides, the North Zician defenders fell back towards the government district, concentrating most resistance on the single vital road through this area - known to the invaders as "The Boulevard". This wide road, surrounded by built-up areas which was a mixture of cramped alleyways and exposed crossing areas, proved to be an extreme obstacle to the attackers. The advanced slowed to mere metres per day, as buildings on the boulevard changed hands constantly. On the 7th November, Imperial troops reached the capital building and captured the ground floor, but were forced out after overwhelming resistance from the upper floors. On the same day, Imperial Tanks overran the Presidential Academy and train station before rolling onto Boulevard itself. Again, they ran into heavy fire from anti-tank infantry and Norzic armour, and soon the street was strewn with the wreckage of burning tanks. Imperial artillery arrived on the afternoon, but due to the close proximity between the opposing armies, the guns could not be used effectively. The following day, Imperial troops captured Monument square - a plaza on high ground overlooking much of the interior district. On following days, Norzic infantry and armed civillians desperately tried to retake this critical position, but to no avail - by the end of the attack, the marble slabs of the monument were almost completely hidden benath the bodies of the attackers. By this time, the Norzics held only a few city blocks in the centre of the district. On the afternoon on the 10th of November, the weather cleared, allowing some Imperial air units to attack Norzic defensive positions within the city. However, their accuracy was severely hampered by huge columns of smoke which dominated the air above the destroyed city. As the sun began to set on the 10th, the last fighting strength of the North Zicians was concentrated on around four city blocks of space surrounding the capital's government buildings. By this time, the South Zicians had committed almost all their reserves in a relentless drive to end the battle - the streets surged with Souzic infantry as they fought tenaciously to eliminate the final, stubborn pockets of resistance. With a huge number of combatants concentrated into a tiny area, the Norzics were able to rack up significant casualties against the poorly trained and equipped Souzic hordes, but the fact remained that the North Zicians were hopelessly outnumbered. Resistance was expected to cease in less than four days. At around 8pm on the 10th, a lone aircraft entered the airspace above the city, where, from a very high altitude, it dropped a single bomb onto Kanunghlekin. Seconds later, the city was vaporized by a supernuclear explosion. The centre of the city was reduced to ash, while surrounding areas were completely levelled. 20 miles away from the city outskirts in Zubaslekin, coalition troops were severely burned and blinded by the blast, with shock-waves and subsequent fires reducing the already devastated town to an inferno of rubble. The winds struck the seas around the harbour up into a tempest, capsizing and beaching dozens of transport ships, stranding many of the blind and wounded on the obliterated shore. Over the next few hours, the few remaining Imperial and Souzic troops evacuated from North Zicia - either by ships that had remained seaworthy, or in pockets of survivors, racing desperately for the border in a disorganised rout. The large majority of the task force, which numbered several million personnel, were caught in the detonation and had perished. Many of the survivors were left within the combat zone; critically wounded and unable to escape. As central command struggled to come to terms with what had just transpired, what remained of the Souzic Military and Imperial regional armies returned to friendly bases in compete shambles. The campaign had been lost - with victory being snatched from the Coalition in the final hour, through an incomprehensible act of self-sacrifice. Meanwhile, the North Zicians paid an even higher price. The invasion had been thwarted at the cost of their most prized city. Millions of civilians were dead, and many more would die as clouds of fallout swept over the region. Although some military strength had been preserved in the form of the newly constructed Militia reserves, stationed in important cities across the country, the cream of the Norzic military had been committed in the battle for the capital. What remained of the elite army, some 220,000 troops, were encircled in the city and were unable to escape nuclear annihilation. Kanunghlekin had been swept off the map, and into the history books as the second city ever to be eradicated by supernuclear bomb. Although not as haphazardly destructive as the first bomb, the detonation had caused similarly enormous deaths. Aftermath The Second Norzic-Imperial War, which by all accounts should have proceeded similarly to the First war, had significantly larger repercussions for all parties involved. The South Zician government, who had committed nearly all their domestic forces in the campaign against North Zicia, was engulfed in a major political crisis. With their army decimated, there was little chance of containing the riots in the streets, and the nation fell into deep civil unrest. In North Zicia, a strict totalitarian regime was put in place to prevent their own appalled populace from uprising, with the population being forcibly relocated to urban, more easily defended areas. Both nations, lacking the resources to resist each other further, entered into an uneasy state of truce. With the Imperial channel fleet already on the brink of destruction, the devastation of their remaining regional forces manifested as the deciding factor in the proposed withdrawral from the Zician theatre. Most bases in the region are scuttled, with the Imperials leaving the South Zicians to their own plight. For the Imperials, the detonation of a second nuclear bomb in combat had forced them to change priorities - it now became the utmost importance to remove Heartland's capability for mass destruction, in order for their nation to survive. In the past, it was thought that the widespread destruction caused by the first detonation, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Heartland's own people, coupled with the difficulty of production of such weapons, would deter Heartland from ever using the device again. However, intelligence operations carried out in the aftermath of the second detonation uncovered that not only had Heartland managed to resolve the unpredictable effects of the earlier bomb, but they had begun measures to mass produce the WMDs at a location yet unknown to the Imperials. It would seem that the destruction of Kanunglekin, which ended the Second Norzic-Imperial War, would start one of the most significant conflicts in history - the struggle of the three major powers to survive in a new age of aggression, ushered in by the unrestrained use of weapons of mass destruction. The Imperials, with their armies stretched to breaking point, would begin a campaign against Heartland that would either see the removal of their capacity to use nuclear weapons, or the complete destruction of the Imperial nation - a period known as the supernuclear dusk. Major Battles *'13th-14th August ERA 10-26 - Preemptive Strike' The Norzics launch their offensive, with one of their objectives being Site Blackwater; an Imperial military maintenance dock. Late in the evening of the 14th, the Norzics sink two amphibious assault ships in the dock with carrier-based aircraft while commandos storm the beaches. Assaulting the submarine pens, they massacre the engineers and crew, blow up three vessels, and destroy the repair drydock. The party prepares to extract by sea, but is intercepted by the INS Colston and its naval escort, who return from maneuvers to see their home port in flames. The Colston's on-board contingent of marines launches a counterattack, and a fierce land, air and sea battle erupts over control of the islands. The battle rages through the night, and eventually, the Norzic commandos are wiped out; however, their sacrifice allowed their carrier to escape, and leave the Imperial outpost gutted from the inside-out. *'15th-29th August ERA 10-26 - Search and Rescue' In response to the new Norzic threat, the Imperials begin a massive logistical operation to reinforce their military forces in South Zicia. During this time, major air convoys are reported intercepted in supposedly friendly-held waters. An Imperial Navy reaction force is assembled, and sail to neutralize the threat, as well as rescue any survivors. However, the North Zician fleet is waiting in ambush, and manage to sink several important Imperial vessels before they are routed. The sizable portion of Imperial Marines and sailors who manage to escape the destruction are stranded on a nearby archipelago, and, left behind by the Imperial flotilla, manage to hold their positions under constant naval bombardment and amphibious attacks. Gradually, they manage to fight their way from one island to another, slowly clearing the Norzic land defenses. When the Imperial navy returns, they find the way has been cleared for them and engages the Norzic armada, destroying a large portion of it. In a final dramatic turn of events, Imperial Marines board the crippled Norzic flagship and destroy it from within. *'2nd September-19th October ERA 10-26 - Fortress Hill' *'1st-10th October ERA 10-26 - Crossing the Line' *'1st-18th October ERA 10-26 - Operation Uppercut' *'29th October-10th November ERA 10-26 - Fall of Kanunghlekin' Category:Conflicts